Greetings Forum Friends,

Some of you may have heard that about 1/3 of the US Federal government closed for about 35 days from just before the holidays due to a lack of funding. Over 800,000 dedicated civil servants were either furloughed or made to work without pay. A lot of folks had a really rough time and a lot of important work was put on hold. It was NOT a vacation, it was an insult to a large group of patriotic Americans who have dedicated their lives to serve this great nation.

Our latest song was written during the lock-out. It was a hard time, so we sing "The Furlough Blues" to commiserate and express the frustration and aggravation we felt.
We're back to work now and funded for the rest of the year but we hope we'll never have to live the Furlough Blues again!!


Here's the Soundclick link. I'll post the Soundcloud in a few days.


http://sclk.co/r/s88oks


DC SpaceDog

Loved this song. Reminds me of the folk songs from the early 60's. Well done. Really feel bad for all the people who are feeling the pain of uncertain employment situations..

Nice semi-protest song giving voice to the unfortunate ones caught up in political turmoil & infighting of our leaders...

Some songs beg to be written...
Good work on this one!

I live in Northern VA, so I understand the predicament the government put you in by making you a pawn. I dig the groove in this song.

Scott, Jim, Scott,

Thanks for listening and commenting. I'm not used to writing and singing "protest" songs but times have been tough. Maybe I should do a nice happy tune next

SD

I like protest tunes...
And there is a lot of fuel out there for protests!

SpaceDog, great job putting this together! Some nice choices with melody and chord structure, especially in the middle 8! Nice mix also! Thanks, Torrey

Cool to hear some agit blues again.
Nice, uncluttered backing and well captured vocals.

Jim, Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

Torrey, Thanks. You have a keen ear. I deviated from the traditional Blues chord progress in the bridge to add interest. Glad you caught it.


Ray, Thanks for listening and commenting. I was going for a more simple, uncluttered arrangement.



SD

SpaceDog,

Love this... Some great blues rock with the twist of a current theme.

Excellent mix, vocal and arrangement as well.

Bob

We love the blues...we didn't love the shutdown. We love this lyric from the perspective of one who went through it.

We had a fascinating discussion with a Park Ranger during that time.

Songs of this nature are steeped in our history.

It well expresses the frustration....thanks for sharing!

J&B

Nice bluesy song about a current event. The lyrics express it well. Pretty COOL!!!

SD,

Well done. A good message song.

fj

Hey there SpaceDog, Very captivating lyrics that really drives the point home. Very expressive to what was happening in current world events. Thanks for sharing!

Nice work this I'm definitely getting some old school vibes here, which is never a bad thing. Reminiscent of 60's folk music for sure. Love the groove, and thought your vocals suited the backing tracks beautiful. Very engaging lyrics as well.

You should be proud of this one - thanks for sharing!

Certainly topical.

Someone please assure me that the current (p)resident doesn't have the launch codes!

All, Thanks for listening and posting.


PGM, here's the Soundcloud link for the PGM Radio channel:
https://soundcloud.com/dcspacedog/the-furlough-blues

Bob, Thanks. I like to play and sing the Blues. It's amazing what you can squeeze out of three chords (four in this case).

J&B, It wasn't too bad for me but I was shocked by how many people I work with had problems. We're back almost a month and just now getting things back to normal. Unfortunately, a lot damage was done.

Belladonna, I'm often moved by current events or interesting people. Writing a song about them is my way of remembering and communicating what I feel.

Floyd, Thanks. You can spin the politics anyway you want. There's plenty of blame to go around.

Joe, Thanks for your kind remarks. I'm sure other folks outside the USA might not be so sympathetic.

Deryk, The PGM Realtracks really set you up for success. You folks have everything but the kitchen sink in the library. Great product and support.

Don, Sorry, I can't help you there. We wrote a song last year about the nuclear showdown with N. Korea called "The Morning Calm" Here's the link: http://sclk.co/r/s85b8h

Cool song. I can relate to writing a political protest song. Done a few here and there.

Well, I reckon you;re back to work now....and you got a good song out of it.

I might have to get busy, motivated, and all patriotic feeling and write another song in the same spirit of political protest....

An interesting topic for a blues number! Really like the musical vibe you captured! And the vocal is really good too. Nice job!! Take care. Greg

I get a "this site cant be reached" when I click on your link. I will try again tomorrow.

I'm a little late on this one and everything has already been said. So a big +1. You did a great job on this SD.